Bose-Einstein Condensation and Strong-Correlation Behavior of Phonons in Ion Traps

Abstract

We show that the dynamics of phonons in a set of trapped ions interacting with lasers is described by a Bose-Hubbard model whose parameters can be externally adjusted. We investigate the possibility of observing several quantum many-body phenomena, including Bose-Einstein condensation as well as a superfluid-Mott insulator quantum phase transition.